


Lessons in Language & Laughter

by AParticularlyLargeBear



Series: Lessons [10]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Bad Jokes, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 01:30:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11772651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AParticularlyLargeBear/pseuds/AParticularlyLargeBear
Summary: Lionel, Morgan and Annie continue their cross-continental escapades.More shenanigans from the terrific trio as they attempt to find the Shepherds and drive each other up the wall in the process.





	Lessons in Language & Laughter

The longer Lionel spent trying to learn Plegian, the less he felt he understood. 

It was weird. Just weird. Lionel knew about three different Valmese dialects—which invariable varied from country to country—as well as Ylisse's royal  _and_ trade tongues. None of them were as strange as Plegian, and Rosanne Valmese had three separate phrases for inquiring after someone's dinner plans. 

The main problem—other than the distractibility of his teacher—was that the subjects and objects didn't seem to follow a rational format. There was no 'she' in Plegian, or rather, there was, but with multiple varieties of indicating the type of 'she' one was speaking about. Also other words that didn't apply to she or he, being something in between or something separate or...

And now Lionel had a headache again.

He straightened up from where he was sitting on his bedroll, sighed, and shook his head. 

"One more time, Morgan," he concentrated hard on the words, spoke slowly, enunciated carefully.  _"We are travelling together through the deserts."_

Morgan flashed a grin. "Yeah good, almost there. Wrong accent on that last part though. 'Less you were being sarcastic calling this place a meadow."

"Aw c'mon Morgan," piped up a nearby voice. The third member of their group was sprawled out on a flat rock alongside the bedrolls, staring up at the bright blue skies. "You know Lionel doesn't understand the concept of sarcasm."

"You are hilarious, Annie," Lionel threw her a withering look.

Annie laughed. "I am. Thanks."

"Pretty sure that  _was_ sarcasm, Annie," Morgan remarked. He was smirking.

Her eyes widened. "But if he was being sarcastic, why would he say something that's true?"

Lionel groaned. He'd never thought he would miss the company of Gerome. At least Gerome  _shut up_ every now and then. "If we could get back to the lesson...?"

Morgan nodded. "Right. You have to stress the first syllable, and it's more of an  _ee_ sound than an  _uh_ sound."

Lionel repeated the word. Morgan beamed.

"And now we're travelling through a desert, not a meadow. You're getting there, buddy."

"Weird language. Those are opposites and they sound basically the same," Annie muttered.

"Ylissean has words that sound exactly the same but have completely different meanings," Morgan countered, then looked back to Lionel. "Wanna keep going? Seems like you're getting a handle on the collective pronouns."

Lionel shook his head. They'd been at this for nearly an hour tonight, and he needed some time to digest. Morgan's protests asides, Plegian was difficult. However, it felt wrong somehow not to be doing any kind of studying whilst they were travelling. Without textbooks (or indeed any books) or other learning material to hand, it fell to him to learn what he could from his companions. His father had always impressed in him the importance of self improvement, and would never have stood for him slacking, not in the classroom and not on the training field. Lionel could almost hear the man in his head; 'Lack of opportunity is only an excuse, Lionel'. It'd been down to Lionel's  _other_ parental unit that he even had the faintest grasp of how to unwind.

That was still a work in progress. The bleak timeline Lionel hailed from had rarely afforded him much opportunity to relax. Even now, the tension felt tightly coiled in the pit of his stomach. The three of them had finally worked out where they were located after three weeks of travelling and guesswork; one of the smaller Valmese countries on the continent. They'd already known that they weren't on the Ylissean landmass, but to confirm for certain that they were so far from home was something of a blow. What they hadn't managed to establish was  _when_. The few locals they'd met weren't of much help; Lionel had barely managed to stumble through a conversation with them, and what little communication they'd managed certainly hadn't revealed much about international news.

Valm was dangerous. Depending on the timeframe, the continent was either in the midst of an overwhelming conquest or wracked by an all-out war with Ylisse. Lionel couldn't help the creeping worry that perhaps they were even further back or forward; either possibility could be disastrous. What if they'd overshot? Been flung so far back into the past that they couldn't possibly affect the events they'd come here to alter? Or, what if they were too late? What if Grima's return had already taken place, and they would claw their way back to Ylisse only to find it in ruins yet again?

These were the kinds of thoughts that kept Lionel up at night. He envied Morgan his optimism, Annie her lackadaisical cheer. He knew that they cared; of course they did. It just... it would have been nice to be able to put his worries to the back of his mind every so often. 

"You okay, buddy?"

Lionel blinked and refocused. Morgan was watching him, head tilted slightly to one side. 

"Just thinking, Morgan," he shifted, eyes dropping to his hands, curled into neat fists resting on his crossed legs.

"They're still alive, you know," Morgan said it calmly and casually, as if remarking upon the weather.

For a moment, Lionel couldn't breathe properly. "Sorry?"

Morgan stretched lazily. The light played strangely across the Mark of Grima which covered the left side of his face. "My mom is okay. Eddi-mom. So if she's okay so is everyone else."

How did Morgan even know that was on his mind? Morgan's conviction was always unsettling; he just seemed to  _know_ things, without context or source. When he made up his mind, he never doubted or second guessed himself.

Annie scoffed. "Your mom's good, Morgan, but she isn't flawless."

If Morgan was bothered by the criticism, he didn't show it. "Just a feeling. We shouldn't get worried."

Morgan's feelings were rarely just feelings.

"Well, we aren't doing anybody much good stranded in the middle of Valm," Lionel said firmly, standing up and dusting off the specks of sand which had wound up in his lap. "Shall we get moving?"

"Urrrrrrrrgh," Annie groaned. "Slave driver," she rolled to her feet nonetheless, scooping up her pack. "You're just like your dad."

"Thank you."

"It wasn't a compliment."

Lionel smiled at her, ever so slightly. Annie rolled her eyes, tucking an errant strand of brown hair behind her ear. "Morgaaaaan," she complained. "Lionel's being smug again."

"Lionel hosts a masterclass in smug, Annie, he's half Rosannean."

Lionel snorted. "That's just rude, Morgan. Not everyone from Rosanne is smug," he raised an eyebrow. "Besides, I thought I was Lionel the Miserable."

"People can be more than one thing," Morgan replied, adjusting the tome belted at his waist.

"Certainly," Lionel shouldered his pack, took a moment to settle it. "For instance, you're a pain in my rear end  _and_ in my neck."

Annie burst into laughter. "Oh  _damn_ Morgan. He just brutalised you. Gonna be okay after that one?"

Morgan grinned lopsidedly. "It's a fair sacrifice to teach Lionel how to joke."

"Who said I was joking?"

In the face of Morgan's reproachful, almost hurt look, even Lionel couldn't keep a straight face.  He started to chuckle.

Morgan stuck out his tongue.

"We might be creating a monster here, Morg," said Annie.

"You reap what you sow," Lionel shot back, casting a glance over their campsite, making sure they hadn't left anything behind. "You two ready?"

"I was born almost ready."

"I wasn't born ready but I carefully became ready through intense training."

"I inherited ready from my parents."

"Ready is a family heirloom, passed on through the generations-"

"Leaving now!" Lionel announced, starting off. The others fell in behind him, still chattering on.

Great, they'd found their topic for the day.

If nothing else, they needed to find their friends so that Lionel could avoid going utterly insane.


End file.
